Charles Korvin

Born: 1907-11-21

Charles Korvin (born Géza Korvin Kárpáthy) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was also a professional still and motion picture photographer and master chef. The Hungarian actor moved to Paris around 1930. He studied at the Sorbonne and during his ten years living in France, he was hired by Yvon, the famous French postcard company, shooting on location all over the country. In 1937, he was hired for a CBC documentary film project about the renowned Canadian medical doctor, Norman Bethune. Entitled “Heart of Spain”, Korvin photographed and co-directed the anti-Franco film which was shot on the front lines during the Spanish Civil War. Moving to the United States in 1940, Korvin studied acting and stagecraft at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Virginia. As Géza Korvin, he made his Broadway stage debut in 1943, playing a Russian nobleman in the play, Dark Eyes. After signing a movie contract with Universal Pictures, he changed his stage name to Charles Korvin. He worked steadily through the 1940s, including appearing in three films with actress Merle Oberon. He was blacklisted around 1952, refused to testify before the HUAC, and his film career was halted. Turning to the newly burgeoning, and much less political, field of broadcast television, Korvin starred in early productions for Playhouse 90, Studio One, and US Steel Hour. He played The Eagle for six contiguous episodes on Disney's Zorro and played Latin dance instructor Carlos on The Honeymooners episode "Mama Loves Mambo." In 1960, he starred as Inspector Duval in the UK/US television series Interpol Calling produced by J. Arthur Rank. During these years, Korvin returned to off-Broadway theater starring as the king in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I with runs at the Westbury Music Fair and the St. Louis Municipal Opera. He was back on Broadway in the mid-1960s starring as the upstairs neighbor in Neil Simon’s Tony Award winning play, “Barefoot in the Park”. In 1964, he returned to Hollywood to play the ship’s captain in Stanley Kramer’s Academy Award winning film, Ship of Fools. Remaining active in later years, he was the voice of the Red Baron for eight years on television and radio ads for Lufthansa Airlines. For more than 25 years, Korvin, with his wife Anne, were part-of-the-year residents in Klosters, Switzerland, where he enjoyed skiing, cooking and entertaining with friends and fellow part time residents Irwin and Marion Shaw, Greta Garbo, Salka Viertel, Deborah Kerr, Robert Ricci, John Fairchild and Gaetan de Rosnay among others. Korvin claimed to have been Greta Garbo's last dance partner. Julia Child, another long time friend, was interviewed in 1978 by Dick Cavett on his PBS television show. When he asked her to name her favorite “amateur” chef, Child replied, “Charles Korvin”.


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Ship of Fools

as Capt. Thiele
Released: 1965-07-29

Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in...

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Berlin Express

as Perrot
Released: 1948-05-01

In post-war Europe, a diverse group of passengers aboard a U.S. Army train to bombed-out...

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Enter Arsène Lupin

as Arsene Lupin
Released: 1944-11-24

A rich but naive young woman is in possession of some priceless jewels. She herself doesn't know...

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The Killer That Stalked New York

as Matt Krane
Released: 1950-10-06

In New York, Sheila Bennet and her spouse, Matt Krane, are trying to unload a trove of rare...

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Inside Out

as Peter Dohlberg
Released: 1975-10-19

An American ex-WW II POW returns to Germany 30 years after the war. He teams up with the former...

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Sangaree

as Harvey Bristol
Released: 1953-05-17

Lamas plays an indentured servant who rises to power in Georgia shortly after the Revolutionary War.

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Zorro, the Avenger

as The Eagle
Released: 1959-09-10

Masked crusader Zorro and his father, Don Alejandro, face off against mysterious despot The...

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The Man Who Had Power Over Women

as Alfred Felix
Released: 1970-08-12

A successful talent agent enjoys the good life until his wife leaves him. Moving in with his...

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Temptation

as Mahoud Baroudi
Released: 1946-12-02

After marrying an archaeologist, a Victorian-era woman with a sordid past realizes that she is...

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Tarzan's Savage Fury

as Rokov, Russian Agent
Released: 1952-03-14

The jungle king's cousin tries to get him to help find a diamond treasure.

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Lydia Bailey

as Col. Gabriel D'autremont
Released: 1952-05-30

A young Boston lawyer, Albron Hamlin, goes to Haiti in 1802 to find Lydia Bailey, whose estate...

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This Love of Ours

as Dr. Michael Touzac
Released: 1945-11-02

At a convention, medical researcher Michel Touzac goes with colleagues to see stage caricaturist...

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Zorro

as uncredited
First aired: 1957-10-10

Diego de la Vega, the son of a wealthy landowner, returns from his studies in Spain and...

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Climax!

as General Steck
First aired: 1954-10-07

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...

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Climax!

as Dr. Andre Demerre
First aired: 1954-10-07

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...

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Studio One

as Francis
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

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Studio One

as Philip Hausman
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

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Studio One

as Paul Collins
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

TV Show page

Studio One

as Julian Wilder
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

TV Show page

Studio One

as uncredited
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

TV Show page

Studio One

as Gastman
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

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Studio One

as El Cameron
First aired: 1948-11-07

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher...

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Robert Montgomery Presents

as Rupert Farrand
First aired: 1950-01-30

Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC...

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The F.B.I.

as Captain Istvan Sladek
First aired: 1965-09-19

The F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was...

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The F.B.I.

as Paul Sieger / Helmut Probst
First aired: 1965-09-19

The F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was...

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The F.B.I.

as Paul Stoner
First aired: 1965-09-19

The F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was...

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Suspense

as uncredited
First aired: 1949-01-06

An anthology series adapted from the radio program of the same name. Like the radio program,...

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The Millionaire

as Anton Bohrman / Anton Kosleck
First aired: 1955-01-19

An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better...

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Holocaust

as Dr. Kohn
First aired: 1978-04-16

Berlin, Germany, 1935. The day Karl Weiss, a Jewish painter, and Inga Helms, a Christian woman,...

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Lights Out

as uncredited
First aired: 1949-07-19

Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a...

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Interpol Calling

as Inspector Paul Duval
First aired: 1959-09-13

The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international...

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The Honeymooners

as uncredited
First aired: 1955-10-01

A bus driver and his sewer worker friend struggle to strike it rich while their wives look on...

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Letter to Loretta

as Leo Unten
First aired: 1953-09-20

Letter to Loretta is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to...

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